---
title: I approached the throne on which he was seated and made him three lo… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I approached the throne on which he was seated and made him three low bows, then prostrated myself at his feet to the surprise of everyone, who could not understand how it was possible that a monkey should be able to distinguish a Sultan from other people, and to pay him the respect due to his rank.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I approached the throne on which he was seated and made him three low bows, then prostrated myself at his feet to the surprise of everyone, who could not understand how it was possible that a monkey should be able to distinguish a Sultan from other people, and to pay him the respect due to his rank.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, throne, monkey · **What happens:** approach, seat, make, prostrate, not understand, be · **To what, where:** throne, Sultan, three low bows, myself, feet, everyone · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, throne, monkey), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg128:10:35
# text = I approached the throne on which he was seated and made him three low bows, then prostrated myself at his feet to the surprise of everyone, who could not understand how it was possible that a monkey should be able to distinguish a Sultan from other people, and to pay him the respect due to his rank.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
14	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	bows	bow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
18	prostrated	prostrate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl:relcl	_	_
33	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	36	advmod	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	ccomp	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
40	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	cop	_	_
42	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	advcl	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	conj	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
57	due	due	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	60	case	_	_
58	to	to	ADP	IN	_	57	fixed	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | I | the throne |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent throne=Theme |
| 2 | **seat** | past · passive |  | Sultan |  | the throne |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Value |
| 3 | **make** | past | I *not said here* | three low bows | Sultan |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset he=Beneficiary bow=Product |
| 4 | **prostrate** | past | I *not said here* | myself |  | Sultan's feet | then | to the surprise of everyone | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **understand** | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | throne |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | should | a monkey |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **distinguish** | to-infinitive | a monkey *not said here* | a Sultan |  |  |  | from other people | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.co-theme»: agent=Agent sultan=Theme from people=Co-Theme |
| 9 | **pay** | to-infinitive | a monkey *not said here* |  | Sultan |  |  | due Sultan's rank | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient respect=Asset |
| 10 | **surprise** |  |  | everyone |  |  |  |  | nom surprise «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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